Esperanto ASAP- Chapter 9(1)
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^CAPITRO 9 (NAÛ) Parto 1
CORRELATIVES / (KORELATIVOJ)


1). Introduction

The correlatives form a very important group of words which can be divided into five families of nine words each i.e. 45 in total.
English has some sort of pattern to its correlatives e.g. in one family most (but not all) begin with wh-, in another they begin usually with th- etc. In Esperanto, however, all families obey totally a set of rules which makes them particularly easy to learn.
The correlatives in Esperanto are logical. They are always made of two parts - the start and the ending!!

There are five possible starts :








and nine possible endings :


ki-
Interrogative (Questions)
e.g who?
ti- 
Demonstratives (Pointing out)
e.g. that one
neni-
Negatives
e.g. no-one
i-
Indefinite
e.g. someone
^ci-
Universal
e.g. everyone
-e 
Place
e.g. kie?
(where?)
-o
Object (general)
e.g. kio?
(what?)
-u
Object (already known
e.g. kiu?
(which?)
-al
Reason
e.g. kial?
(why?)
-el
Manner
e.g. kiel?
(how?)
-am
Time
e.g. kiam? 
(when?)
-om
Quantity
e.g. kiom?
(how many?)
-a
Type
e.g. kia? 
(what sort of?)
-es
Possession
e.g. kies? 
(whose?)
At first sight this might seem to be complicated but it is so logical that after some practice (and one does need to practise these to gain familiarity with them!) they are soon mastered.
Let us look at another set- the set starting with the negative prefix nen- :















Now let us look at each ending in turn :


Ending      
Meanings
Example
Meaning
-e 
Place
Neni/e
Nowhere, no place 
-o
Object (general)
Neni/o
Nothing
-u 
Object (particular) or Person
Neni/u
None (of these),nobody
-al
Reason
Neni/al
For no reason
-el
Manner
Neni/el
No way
-am
Time
Neni/am
Never, at no time
-om
Quantity
Neni/om
None, no amount 
-a
Type
Neni/a
No sort of, no type of
-es
Possession
Neni/es 
Nobody's
1). -e (Place) :

One must be careful when translating 'there is' as there are three possibilities:
a) Where the 'there' is an artificial subject (see impersonal verbs Chapter 8, #4) and not translated e.g. estas espero (there is hope).
b) Where 'there' indicates a definite place and so is translated by tie e.g. tie estas loko ie (there is a place somewhere)
c) When you are in the course of pointing something out and then jen is used e.g. jen la loko! (there's the place!)

^Ci : This is added to produce proximity e.g. tie (there) ^ci tie (or tie ^ci) (here); tiu (that one) ^ci tiu (or tiu ^ci) (this one)
No hyphen is used between ^ci and tiu.
However ^ci is also used, meaning this, in expressions such as ^ci-vespere (during this evening), ^ci-matene (during this morning) and here it is hyphenated.

2). -o and -u (Objects)

A few words of explanation are particularly needed to distinguish between -o and -u.
Kio? means 'what is that?' referring to a general tem - often an, as yet unknown, object.
Kiu? means 'which one' referring to a specific one out of a set of known objects. It is often used as an adjective e.g. kiu libro? (which book?). When used alone is is taken to mean which person i.e. who?

Similarly nenio is nothing, neniu can be no (neniu libro : no book) or, alone, means nobody.

A ki- word is usually answered by the corresponding ti- word e.g
Kiu libro estas la via? Tiu libro. (Which book is yours? That one)
Kio estas tio? Tio estas kapro. (What is that? That is a goat)

-o words are pronouns so they can take appropriate endings e.g. tion or possibly tioj. However since they usually represent an as yet unknown thing the plural is very rarely used.


-u words are adjectives and so always agree with their nouns e.g Donu al mi tiujn gazetojn (Give me those magazines). Used on their own they refer to people e.g. kiu venas? = Kiu persono venas? (Who is coming?)

3). -al (Reason)

Kial (why?) and Tial (so,therefore) are very useful words. The -al family never take endings.
Kialo is an independent word meaning 'a reason'

4). -el (Manner)

Kiel (how?) and Tiel (thus) are also very useful. We have already met tiel in the phrase kaj tiel plu (ktp) this means 'and thus further' or etc.

Tiel and Kiel have some special uses. Kiel means 'like' when comparing two things e.g.
^Si kantas, kiel an^gelo (She sings like an angel)

It may be followed by the nominative or accusative depending on the sense of the sentence e.g.
Petro ne faras tion, kiel lia instruisto.
Peter does not do that like (as) his teacher (does that). Teacher is the subject of the understood 'does that' and so is nominative.


Ni ^satas tiujn tagojn kiel tempon de ferio.
We appreciate these days like (as) a time of holiday. The sentence really means 'We appreciate these days as (we appreciate) a time of holiday' and here the time is the object of the understood verb 'appreciate' and so accusative.

The combination tiel...kiel means as...as in a comparison e.g.
Aûto ne veturas tiel rapide kiel aeroplano. (A car does not travel as quickly as a plane)

5). -am (Time)

The word ajn is used with ki- words with the meaning of 'ever' e.g. Kiam? (when?) Kiam ajn (whenever) ;
Kie? (where?) Kie ajn (wherever); Kiu? (who?) Kiu ajn (whoever)


6). -om (Quantity)

When Kiom? is used to mean 'how much of a named substance' in Esperanto we always have to translate the 'of' and we use the special word da which is only used with quantity. e.g.
Kiom da pluvo Manˆcestro ricevas dum jaro? (How much rain does Manchester get in a year?)
Kiom da jaroj vi havas? (How many years do you have (i.e. How old are you?)

The tiom/kiom combination (like the tiel/kiel) has a special use. It means 'as much as' e.g.
Vi povas havi tiom, kiom vi deziras (You can have as much as you like).

We have already met iom (some amount) as meaning rather or somewhat. Also useful is iomete (to a small amount) e.g.
^Cu vi parolas bone Esperanton? Ne bedaûrinde - nur iomete.
(Do you speak Esperanto well? No, unfortunately, only a little)

7). -a (Type)

Kia has a special use in exclamations e.g.Kia bruo! (What a noise!) Kia ^stormo en tetaso! (A storm in a tea cup!)

Since the -a family are adjectives they must take suitable endings to agree with their nouns e.g. Kiaj infanoj! (What children!)

8). -es (Possession)

A special meaning for ties is the latter's e.g. Petro renkontis Arturon kaj ties amiko (Peter met Arthur and his (the latter's) friend.)

2). Relative Pronouns

An important use of kiu is as a relative pronoun rather than an interrogative. English also uses 'who' for both purposes. e.g.

Jen la knabo, kiu pafis mian katon! (There is the boy, who shot my cat)

Often two correlatives are used (rather euphonically) together e.g.
Infanoj kutime deziras tiun, kiun aliaj jam havas. (Children usually desire that which others already have)


THIS HAS PROBABLY BEEN THE MOST INVOLVED AND EXTENSIVE LESSON IN THE WHOLE COURSE. DO NOT RUSH ON!! TAKE YOUR TIME AND REREAD SO AS TO FAMILIARISE YOURSELF TOTALLY WITH CORRELATIVES. THEY ARE MOST USEFUL.


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